


One of the Bad Nights

by Thunderdaughter



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:35:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22841104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderdaughter/pseuds/Thunderdaughter
Summary: Set during the three-year separation. A young girl asks who Kagome is, and why Uncle Inu is calling her name...
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha
Comments: 5
Kudos: 71





	One of the Bad Nights

He was a good hanyou, the villagers agreed amongst themselves. And good ones were few and far between. Most with demon blood were indifferent to humans at best, and most often dangerous - but this one was determined to make a place for himself here, a place near the well, where all his hopes lived. So for the last two and a half years, no evil demon, wicked or greedy warlord, or rampaging beast had threatened the village, its children, or its crops without falling to his blade. The village's elderly priestess, and those villagers too poor or sickly or injured to fend for themselves had fresh meat on their table from his hunting, and their woodboxes were always full of firewood. And when there was hard work to be done, digging out irrigation tunnels, clearing new land, building houses or harvesting, he did the work of ten - no, twenty ordinary men. The children adored him, called him Uncle Inu, and he tolerated their antics with patience and only occasional grumbling, even when they tugged on his ears or clamored for piggyback rides.

But tonight - well, it was one of his bad nights. The villagers knew them well. Most nights, he went down to the sacred well for a while before he took himself off to sleep, and sat inside, talking as if to an absent lover, telling her the gossip and events of the day, chatting as easily as if she were there before him. Some nights he just sat and wept, silently, where there was no one to see or hear. But on the bad nights, the grief caught too deeply at his heart, and he pounded at the solid clay mercilessly with his fists, dug at it with his talons, and howled her name to the wind, pleading, demanding, shouting himself hoarse, as if he could send his voice across five hundred years. The villagers, who had grown quite fond of him over the last couple of years, pretended not to hear, though some of them winced in sympathy. 

Five-year-old Hinata lay awake listening, and shivering. She was on a strange futon in her neighbors' house - her two-year-old brother had been caught suddenly by an illness even Kaede-sama couldn't cure, and her parents had taken him off to a holy shrine several villages away, to ask the blessing of the priest there. Aunt Sango and Uncle Miroku, though her aunt and uncle only by neighborly courtesy and not blood, were kindly, generous people, and their twins, and the little baby, were darling - but she missed her home, and tonight the sound of Uncle Inu's grief seemed to reverberate inside her. She had heard his bad nights before, and her mother had always told her not to be afraid, but somehow tonight the howls mixed with her own worry over little Hikaru, leaving her shaken and desperately sad. She found it hard to reconcile the anguished, furious wails with the kindly, if brusque Uncle Inu who told such fascinating stories and could sometimes be persuaded to give the children piggyback rides that soared over the trees (but only when their parents weren't watching - though she knew Uncle Inu would never, ever drop her, adults were far too prone to worry...). _How can he be so kind during the day, and cry such awful cries at night?_

As the shadows of the trees outside danced on the wall opposite the window, she saw she was not the only one awake. A tall figure came into the room, clearly meaning to check on the children quietly and slip out, but Hinata tugged at the bottom of her robe. "Aunt Sango? Do you hear him too?"

"Yes, love, I do. It's all right. He'll be all right in the morning, as always."

"Aunt Sango? Who is Kagome, and why is Uncle Inu so angry at her?"

The older woman sighed, and sat down cross-legged by Hinata's head, stroking her hair reassuringly. "He's not angry. He misses her, that's all. She was...very dear to him. She came from...somewhere else, far away, and she was with us when we went searching for the Sacred Jewel and the demon Naraku, and she was the one who spoiled Naraku's plan to corrupt the Jewel and make it evil - but when she did that, it threw her back into her own place and she hasn't been able to get back. She used to travel back and forth through the sacred well - it was magical for her, like a door between worlds - and so could he, but it's closed up, and neither of them can reach each other any more. Uncle Inu loves her very much - we all do, she was like a sister to me," and here Hinata noticed Aunt Sango brushing away a tear, "but he loved her more than anyone else, like your Daddy loves your Mommy, and like Uncle Miroku loves me, and when he lost her, it broke his heart."

"What was she like?"

"She was very young, just barely a woman, still a girl by her world's standards, but she was brave beyond her years, and so determined. And kindhearted - you could tell she was born to be a miko, she'll be like Kaede-sama when she's old, one of those people everyone looks up to and trusts. She had a light about her that warmed everyone - it made Uncle Inu feel welcome and cared for as he was for the first time ever. You know he's half-youkai, right?"

"Mm-hm. But Mama says he's special, that he's not like other hanyou, and we can trust him." 

"She's right. But part of the reason he's special is because Kagome taught him that it was all right to have friends, to trust people, to care about people. Mostly hanyou are very lonely - humans are scared of them, and full youkai look down on them, so they have to fight to get by, and they learn that they can't trust anyone, and that it's not safe to love anyone. It's because Kagome loved him as he was, without being afraid of him and without wanting to hurt him or change him, that he learned it was possible to be loved, and that it felt good. So now he takes care of the villagers, so that we'll treat him kindly in return, and he can be part of our village and part of our family and he doesn't have to be alone."

"I'm glad he's with us. I don't want Uncle Inu to be lonely." She paused. "Do you think...do you think the door will ever open up again? It seems so sad, to have them apart forever..."

"I hope so. I miss her too. And she'd love to meet you - she always loved children. Now go to sleep, there's nothing you can do to help tonight. Just be extra gentle and kind with him tomorrow, all right?"

"Yes, Aunt Sango. Good night, Aunt Sango."

"Good night, Hinata-chan."

Outside, the howls had stopped, for the time being, and an exhausted hanyou sought the refuge of the Goshinboku's branches. He was momentarily startled by a furry form appearing over the side of the branch, but recognized Shippou, who said softly, "I miss her too. I don't want to be alone." 

"Keh," was his only reply, but he made no objection when the kitsune curled up in his lap and fell asleep. He would never have admitted to drawing comfort from the other's warmth, but it helped. And it wasn't long before he, too, joined the cub in exhausted slumber, full of dreams of a woman five hundred years away, and yet closer than his own heart. 

Five hundred years away, her dreams were all of him, and her pillow was soaked with tears.


End file.
